european astronaut corps The Single European Astronaut Corps J. Feustel-Büechl ESA Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands H. Oser Head of European Astronaut Centre, ESA Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, EAC, Cologne, Germany D. Isakeit Coordination Office, ESA Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands The need for astronauts offers a similar combination of high intelligence, Whereas robotic and telescience activities in adaptability, mobility, dexterity and tactile skills. space are considered by most people as highly These capabilities are of particular value when justified, the rationale for sending astronauts it comes to activities which have never been into space is often put into question by the done before and for which no standard reaction media and public opinion. However, sending pattern can be conceived in advance. men and women to work on a space station — be it the current Russian station Mir or the The car industry and chemical plants are good imminent International Space Station — is not examples of areas where robotic systems can an end in itself, but a response to clear and perform well-defined routine tasks to support objective considerations. man in his day-to-day work, or even take over certain dangerous or monotonous activities. The International Space Station will be used as a multi-disciplinary Less visible are the considerable efforts research institute in space for fundamental and applied science, as a expended by human workers on the test-bed for new technologies, a platform for the observation of the preparation, maintenance and repair of these Earth and the Universe, and as a stepping stone to further exploration robots. Moreover, robotic systems soon reach and exploitation of space by mankind. The permanent presence of a their inherent limitations when it comes to crew on board will be one of its most important features. The first evaluating results and deciding what to do crew members will be aboard shortly after the arrival of the Russian next, particularly when confronted with new or Service Module, which means approximately eight months after the non-nominal situations. first Station element is put into orbit. An essential aspect of ground-based scientific The roles of the Station astronauts will cover system operations as research is the ability to modify experiment well as utilisation activities. In the system operations domain, the procedures, and even to reorient the line of astronauts will work, under the authority of the Station Commander, research, as a function of the results achieved with specific responsibilities not only for the systems provided by the in earlier steps. This is all the more true for space agency by which they are employed, but also for other systems space-based research tasks. The presence of across the whole Station. In the context of the utilisation activities, a crew onboard a space station allows us to they will conduct scientific and applications-oriented experiments on cope with unexpected hardware failures, to board, with the active involvement of the experimenters concerned on change the technical configurations and Earth, as far as the specific nature of each experiment allows. operational parameters of experiments, to carry out manipulations that cannot be programmed in advance, to react directly to intermediate Mankind owes the unique place that it experimental results, and to cope intelligently occupies among the living species on Earth to with any unforeseen or unforeseeable two essential types of ‘built-in tools’: the behaviour, be it of the experiments or of the human brain and the human hand. It is this subsystems of the space station itself. That is combination of high cognitive and manipulative why complex space systems, like the US skills that has enabled man to continuously Space Shuttle, the European Spacelab, the improve his own living conditions and adapt Russian space station Mir, and even the Hubble himself to external changes in the natural, Space Telescope, would be unthinkable social and economic environment. No robot without at least the temporary presence of r bulletin 95 — august 1998 bull astronauts. In addition, the astronauts provides two Space Shuttle flight opportunities themselves, who are regularly exchanged on a for ESA astronauts to be accommodated in the space station, offer a ready supply of test Station programme prior to the in-orbit subjects for studying human physiology in assembly and verification of Columbus. A space. further step in the preparation of European astronauts for their future tasks will be ESA European astronauts for the International astronaut Pedro Duque’s flight on the STS-95 Space Station Shuttle mission, scheduled for launch in Europe is one of the five International Partners October 1998. in the cooperative International Space Station Programme. According to the objectives of In addition, the experience already gained by international cooperation and the rules set forth European astronauts is being made available to in the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) and support the development of the various the NASA/ESA Memorandum of Under- elements of the European participation in the standing signed in Washington on 29 January International Space Station. 1998, ESA as the agency representing the European International Partner, has the right to History and future of national and ESA provide personnel from the time it begins to astronauts share common system operations respon- For historical reasons, there has not so far been sibilities. This means that ESA will provide one a unified European approach to astronaut astronaut for a three-month stay on board the recruitment and employment. ESA had Station every 8 months (on average), after the selected its first three astronauts (U. Merbold, launch of the Columbus Laboratory. An ESA C. Nicollier, W. Ockels) in 1977 with a view to astronaut will also participate in the in-orbit their employment in the framework of assembly and system verification of the Spacelab, as part of the US Space Shuttle Columbus Laboratory. programme. The ESA Astronaut Corps was later significantly enlarged in 1992 in preparation for the future missions related to the Columbus and Hermes programmes. When these programmes did not materialise, or at least not to the extent expected, not only was the size of the ESA Astronaut Corps frozen, but astronaut departures for personal reasons were not compensated by new recruitment. In parallel with the ESA Astronaut Corps, three European countries – France, Germany and Italy – had each built up an astronaut corps of their own. In addition, astronauts from the United Kingdom, Austria and Belgium have also participated in manned space missions. With no European manned space vehicles yet available, all of these ESA and national European astronauts have participated in missions on either American (Space Shuttle) or Soviet/Russian (Salyut and Mir) facilities (Table 1). With the coming of the International Space Figure 1. The first three ESA ESA is also negotiating with the other Station, the situation will change radically. On astronauts selected in 1977: International Partners a number of additional the one hand, Europe as a full partner in the from left to right: Ulf Merbold, Claude Nicollier flight opportunities for European astronauts International Space Station Programme will, and Wubbo Ockels before assembly of the whole Station is with the Columbus Laboratory, be the owner of complete. The goal here is to increase ESA’s its own ‘real estate’ in space and will therefore operational experience in general, and to have its own rights to participate in Station establish a solid Astronaut Corps at the level operations and utilisation, including astronaut needed to meet the Agency’s rights and activities. On the other hand, the planned obligations in terms of operations and ending of Spacelab and Mir operations leaves utilisation. Consequently, the NASA/ESA limited opportunities for additional mission Memorandum of Understanding Enabling Early arrangements for astronauts outside the Utilisation Opportunities of the International framework of the International Space Station. It Space Station, signed on 18 March 1997, was for this reason that ESA, in December european astronaut corps Table 1. European astronauts in space Name Space Agency Home Country Mission Designation Year S. JÄHN Germany Soyuz-31 1978 J.-L. CHRETIEN CNES France Salyut-7 1982 U. MERBOLD ESA Germany STS-9/Spacelab-1 1983 P. BAUDRY CNES France STS-18 1985 R. FURRER DFVLR Germany STS-22/Spacelab D-1 1985 E. MESSERSCHMID DFVLR Germany STS-22/Spacelab D-1 1985 W. OCKELS ESA Netherlands STS-22/Spacelab D-1 1985 J.-L. CHRETIEN CNES France Mir/Aragatz 1988 H. SHARMAN Juno Consortium United Kingdom Mir/Juno 1991 F. VIEHBÖCK ASA Austria Mir/Austromir 1991 U. MERBOLD ESA Germany STS-42/Spacelab IML-1 1992 K. D. FLADE DLR Germany Mir/Mir-92 1992 D. FRIMOUT SPPS Belgium STS-45/ATLAS-1 1992 M. TOGNINI CNES France Mir/Antares 1992 C. NICOLLIER ESA Switzerland STS-46/TSS-1, Eureca-1 1992 F. MALERBA ASI Italy STS-46/TSS-1, Eureca-1 1992 H. SCHLEGEL DLR Germany STS-55/Spacelab D-2 1993 H. U. WALTER DLR Germany STS-55/Spacelab D-2 1993 C. NICOLLIER ESA Switzerland STS-55/Spacelab D-2 1993 J.-P. HAIGNERE CNES France Mir/Altair 1993 C. NICOLLIER ESA Switzerland STS-61/Hubble servicing 1993 U. MERBOLD ESA Germany Mir/Euromir-94 1994 J.-F. CLERVOY ESA France STS-66/Atlas-3 1994 T. REITER ESA Germany Mir/Euromir-95 1995 U. GUIDONI ASI Italy STS-75/TSS-1R 1996 M. CHELI ESA Italy STS-75/TSS-1R 1996 C. NICOLLIER ESA Switzerland STS-75/TSS-1R 1996 C. ANDRE-DESHAYS CNES France Mir/Cassiopeia 1996 J.-J. FAVIER CNES France STS-78/LMS-1 1996 R. EWALD DLR Germany Mir/Mir-97 1997 J.-F. CLERVOY ESA France STS-84 to Mir 1997 J.-L.